| News and Articles - December 2002 Case Study
on Wind2 implementation at Turner Fleischer Architects Inc. published in the mid
November 2002 edition of the Bottom Line Turner Fleischer Architects
Inc. (TFAI) selected Wind2 14 years ago. The initial objectives for TFAI were
fairly simple – to record time and expenses against a project. ACCPAC was used
for general ledger, accounts payable and accounts receivable. In the early days,
staff recorded their time on paper and office staff keyed it into the system.
Later, staff entered their time into Excel spreadsheets, and it was manually re-entered
into Wind2. TFAI and Wind2 have a come a long way since then. Today staff key
their time and notes directly into Wind2. Wind2 is also used to for invoicing,
budgeting, project management, purchasing, general ledger, financial reporting,
accounts receivable and accounts payable. For a reprint of the article, click
here. Case Study
on TimeControl implementation at MDS Sciex published in the December 2002 edition
of the Bottom Line MDS Sciex is Canada's leading manufacturer of analytical
instrumentation. A few years ago, MDS Sciex selected TimeControl to automate timesheets.
TimeControl provides an electronic timesheet and expense reporting system designed
to serve both Finance and Project Management. TimeControl differentiators include
support of multiple databases including Oracle, a matrix approval process, links
to multiple project management systems and audit trail of any changes to a timesheet.
For a reprint of the article, click here.
Web Services is now the most hyped technology on the planet Web
Services is now the most hyped technology on the planet. It has the potential
to let different systems communicate with each other easily. Integration problems
would be no more. EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) would be replaced by Web Services.
Business to Business (B2B) eCommerce would become a reality. New applications
could be assembled using programs available on Web Services. Despite the hype,
there is a lot of confusion about what is actually meant by Web Services. Web
Services refers to application logic accessible to programs via standard web protocols
in a platform-independent way. So, if you hear that companies already have web
services in place, this is a stretch. They may be using XML (eXtensible Markup
Language), which is a key component in Web Services and they may be communicating
over the internet, but they are not using standards in a platform independent
way. Before they can use standards, there needs to be agreement on the standards.
And that’s the big problem. Just as Paul Simon sings about the 50 ways to lose
your lover, there are 50 ways to define a purchase order. There are also
different levels to Web Services that need to be standardized including SOAP (Simple
Object Access Protocol) and UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration).
Technology companies need an acronym for everything they do, and Web Services
has more acronyms associated with it than you would care to know about it. Although
the obstacles to Web Services are large, there is huge momentum and commitment
by all the major technology companies to sort out the standards. Only this year,
the WS-I (Web Services Interoperability Organization) was created to act as a
quality assurance group over web services. The group includes IBM, Microsoft,
Intel, and will soon include Sun Microsystems. Although Web Services is a tangled
web of acronyms, technologies and companies, its net or as Microsoft refers to
it, its .NET will catch us all. Only this time getting caught in the net/.NET
is a good thing. Click here
for more technical details written by 180 Systems about web services. For a more
comprehensive analysis of Web Services, click
here for reports from the McKinseyQuarterly. A great source for
ideas and articles from Boomer Consulting, which is recognized in the accounting
profession as a leading authority on technology management. Although
the articles that you can download (many are at no charge) from Boomer Consulting
are geared to accounting firms, they also apply to any company struggling with
technology. In an article entitled, Winning with Technology, Gary Boomer writes
that "Too many businesses today view technology as overhead...", and
"According to the Gartner Group, five hours are gained for every hour of
technology training" and "Internal technology personnel tend to tell
the owners what they want to hear rather what they need to hear". Another
article on Boomer's web site entitled "The Keys to Firm Growth" contains
benchmarks on technology investment. Click
here for a link to Boomer Consulting. Analysis of Microsoft Business
Solutions by the Aberdeen Group, one of the leading sources of Information Technology
market research According to Aberdeen Group, "Microsoft Business
Solutions had its first value-added reseller (VAR) conference in Minneapolis,
MN — but the event was not new to the attendees. Stampede has been a 17-year tradition
for the Great Plains reseller community — and this year 1,900 Great Plains VARs
were joined by 100 Navision VARs, the newest addition to the Microsoft Business
Solutions family. At Stampede, the change of venue did not distract from the business
at hand — MBS presented a strategy for business solutions for the small to midsize
enterprise (SME) for the years ahead. This strategy radically changes the playing
field as Microsoft strives to own the business stack." One of Aberdeen's
conclusions is that "Microsoft Business Solutions faces a significant challenge
of product line "rationalization" as a result of its strategy of acquisition
— eliminating product duplication and developing strong integration of the piece
parts. But MBS is well positioned to be a powerhouse in the mid-market when its
"next-gen" strategy leads to a single suite of robust, reliable, and
affordable products." Click
here for a link to Aberdeen's article. ACCPAC Expands Reach: A Transition
from Accounting Applications to Mid-Market Enterprise Solutions This
time from the Aberdeen Group, "ACCPAC wants to be taken seriously as a provider
of mid-market enterprise (MME) business management applications. The company has
developed the architecture and the product integration to stand up respectably
against its competitors. The challenge: how to position its products and technology,
and train its VARs to capture a significant share of this burgeoning market."
Click
here for a link to Aberdeen's article. Best Software: Building Competitive
Advantage for the SMB (small and midsize business) Market And one more
time again from Aberdeen group, "Software requirements for SMBs are varied:
They range from back-office functions like commercial and nonprofit accounting,
HR/payroll, e-commerce, and fixed asset management to front-office applications
like contact management and customer relationship management (CRM). The SMB's
goal is to constantly improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of its
internal operations throughout the life cycle of the business. With growth come
additional requirements: not only for an increased number of functional areas,
but also for the ability to scale to accommodate more users and increased business
transactions. Best Software has addressed this bidirectional growth by focusing
on the long-term operational, tactical, and, ultimately, strategic goals of organizations
— in a way that customers have found easy to implement — with a rapid return on
their investment." Click
here for a link to this article from Aberdeen.. More consolidation
of accounting and ERP systems MAPICS has signed a definitive agreement
to acquire its competitor Frontstep (formerly SyMix). Click
here for more. As well, SSA acquires Infinium. Click
here for more about this. IBM Maps out Mid-Market Plan
From destination CRM, "IBM, long perceived as a player in the largest of
global corporations, plans to focus more acutely on delivering solutions to the
small and medium-size business market." IBM will be spending $100 Million
in marketing its mid market push. Click
here for a link to this article. Disappointed with information technology
investments? You're not alone In an article from CFO.com, "One
by one, they rose to make their pitches to the IT steering committee. As the day
wore on, recalls consultant Doug Hubbard, business cases were presented for more
than 20 IT projects. Each was framed in terms of the tremendous savings and benefits
it would provide for the company, a giant midwestern nuclear-power utility. One
skeptical attendee listened closely and entered a series of figures into a calculator.
Toting up the promised benefits of each proposal, he announced, "If we signed
off on all of these, we'd be able to cut staff by 110 percent. Hubbard's tale
reflects the past decade's blind faith, massive investment, and sometimes bitter
disappointment in information technology." For the article, click here.
From the Butler Group, "The way most companies use IT is sub-optimal, leaving
most success factors unaffected. This has not, of course, stopped many large organizations
investing heavily in efficiency oriented applications such as ERP, and as if this
was not painful enough, going on to invest in CRM systems with the hope that IT
could cast its magic spell upon their customers. There’s no need to restate the
dismal history of these monolithic monsters – but the lack of return we often
get from these applications should be telling us something. If IT is really going
to make a difference to our business then we need to get off the efficiency trip
and start looking at how IT can support innovation, reinforce market share, promote
a healthy corporate culture, and communicate our products and services to customers."
For the article, click
here. The role of the CFO has broadened beyond number crunching
and shoring up cash flow - a report by Ernst & Young Ernst &
Young has published an article entitled "The CEO's CFO Accountability is
Key" based on interviews with more than 60 CFOs and senior executives. In
the article, you will read that "CFOs must still possess a superior understanding
of a company's financial and accounting practices, the study notes, especially
given the renewed emphasis on restoring public confidence in financial statements.
However, the CFO's role has now expanded beyond "number crunching" and
shoring up cash flow to include responsibilities for shaping corporate strategy,
ensuring the credibility and competence of the senior management team, and bolstering
the company's position in the market. A CFO's performance in these areas, the
study says, helps to solidify a company's standing with investors." Click
here for a link to this article. You use Outlook and haven't archived
or deleted your messages for a long time Outlook stores all of its data
in a file called outlook.pst. When this file gets very large (2 gigabytes), it
can become unstable or unusable. Click
here for an irreverent article on the topic from Woody's watch,
here for Microsoft's help and
here for some advice from PC Magazine. November 2002
Microsoft Business Solutions article entitled "The eagle has landed"
published in the Mid October 2002 edition of the Bottom Line More than
thirty years ago, Neil Armstrong was the first to land on the moon, and immortalized
the moment with the words the “The eagle has landed”. To get there required a
vision, a comprehensive strategy and billions of dollars. Microsoft recently launched
Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) with vision, comprehensive strategy and billions
of dollars. With MBS, Microsoft’s objective is to attain global leadership in
business applications for small and medium sized organizations. For a reprint
of the article, click here.
Abak Case Study published in the November 2002 edition of the Bottom
Line AGTI Consulting Services is an information technology consulting
firm headquartered in Montreal and serving the Canadian market from offices located
in Montreal, Quebec City, Calgary and Victoria. AGTI's rapid growth required them
to replace their existing time and billing system. In Abak (http://www.abaksoftware.com),
AGTI found an affordable solution that met their requirements. Abak was developed
by a Canadian developer in Montreal, and now has about 300 clients from a variety
of industries including accounting firms, engineers, architects, and consulting
firms. For a reprint of the article, click here.
Professional Services Automation (PSA) article published in the November 2002
edition of CAmagazine The popular vendors of accounting systems for
businesses have traditionally neglected the needs of professional service organizations
– accounting firms, consulting firms, engineers, architects.... Happily for new
vendors with new solutions, this oversight has left the door wide open for them.
At one end of the range of solutions for professional service organizations are
timesheet systems; these provide timesheets, expense reporting and project management.
Next, there are time-billing systems that include billing, and sometimes purchasing,
allowing for accumulation of external costs for products and services so that
project managers can compare actual costs of time and materials to budget. And
there is Professional Service Automation (PSA) -- an integrated solution to meet
all the system needs of professional service organizations. For the article on
CAmagazine's web site, click
here. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, says that Web
Services is "big, big, big, big, big, the biggest thing that's going to happen
in the industry" Web Services are self contained business functions
that operate over the internet enabling any application to share information with
another application. Web Services should solve the problem of integration between
systems and enable eCommerce to become a reality. However, don't expect integration
utopia for at least a few years. In order for Web Services to work, there must
first be agreement on standards. So we have competitors such as Microsoft and
IBM joining The Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) to set the standards.
Just a few weeks ago, WS-I opened up some room at the table for Sun Microsystems,
which is Microsoft's main rival for web services standard setting. For articles
on WS-I from InfoWorld, click
here and
here. For an article on the battle between Microsoft and Sun Microsystems
from Destination CRM, click
here. David Maister's Web Seminar on Managing a Group of Professionals On
October 16, David Maister presented the findings of his new book (First Among
Equals) in a one hour web seminar hosted by Changepoint Corporation. David is
a leading authority on management of professional service firms. David believes
that a professional service firm's competitive advantage is the energy, drive,
excitement and enthusiasm of its staff. However, managers are not hired, trained
or rewarded with this in mind. Performance reviews are a waste of time as staff
defend themselves rather than learn how to improve their performance. A
good manager is not necessarily someone with a high IQ who can argue his case
very logically. The interpersonal skills are more important. A good manager is
trusted by the staff because staff trust the motives of the manager. A good manager
is accountable and sets a high standard. If you're interested in more, click here
for David's website or click
here to access the recorded web seminar from Changepoint. A survey
of over 250 executives (CFO's, Directors of Finance, Controllers...) on IT investments
CFO magazine and Morgan Stanley surveyed 252 executives between July 30 and August
20. The survey found that a resounding majority of CFO's are devoting more time
to IT issues these days. When asked whether their companies have gotten the expected
ROI from technology investments, almost half said no or rarely. For the survey
results, click
here. The case against the business case CFO magazine
also published an article on October 30 that cautioned about over reliance on
ROI. There are some projects that don't need a hard and fast business case such
as an implementation of an accounting or ERP system. I disagree. Although
there may be cases when an organization has no choice in the implementation of
a new ERP or accounting system, there are choices in which system is selected.
If there is not a good business case/ROI for the more expensive system, then the
less expensive system could be the better alternative. Click here
for the article. Wal-Mart has given its 10,000 smaller and mid-sized
suppliers one year to begin using Internet-based electronic data interchange
According to E-Business news, "Wal-Mart's decision represents a watershed
in the history of Internet-based EDI given the number of suppliers it will impact
and the amount of business it will generate for Internet-based EDI specialists."
Click
here for the article. The economic downturn has propelled Business
Intelligence (BI) to center stage According to InfoWorld, "The
ultimate goal is to ratchet the BI data locked in transaction-system silos up
to the executive suite for daily comparison to strategic goals and budget targets.
As a result, an executive can be notified within minutes of critical variations
in sales or production, instead of learning about them at quarter's end."
Click
here for the article. A free and very fast image viewer and editor
that supports all major graphic formats IrfanView is a fast, simple
image viewer and editor that supports all major graphic formats, including BMP,
DIB, JPEG, GIF, animated GIF, PNG, PCX, multipage TIFF, TGA, and more. Click
here to access ZDNet Downloads for IrfanView. October 2002
OpenAir Case Study published in the Mid September 2002 edition of the
Bottom Line The case study was on Devlin, a leading interface design
and development firms in North America, which implemented OpenAir. OpenAir is
a Professional Services Automation system, which includes project estimating,
resource management, timesheets, expense reporting, project management, contact
management, invoicing, and purchase orders. Devlin required a web-based solution
so that staff could use the system anywhere or anytime whether they were on a
MAC or PC. Devlin chose the ASP (Application Services Provider) option, which
means that you don’t buy the software, you rent it; and the program and data are
maintained on the ASP’s equipment. For a reprint of the article, click here.
Changepoint Case Study published in the October 2002 edition of the
Bottom Line The case study was on SAS Canada, a leading developer of
business intelligence systems, which implemented Changepoint. Changepoint is a
Professional Services Automation system, which includes customer relationship
management (CRM), engagement management, billing, knowledge management, project
management, time and expense reporting, and resource management. SAS wanted to
create “one point of truth” and replace all the disparate systems with one system
for engagement and project management For a reprint of the article, click here.
The September 18, 2002 Microsoft announcement to attain global leadership in
business applications for the mid market Microsoft’s key technology
today is .NET, and it has been said that Bill Gates has bet the company on .NET.
Microsoft Business Solutions is one important vehicle for Microsoft in making
.NET a reality. Microsoft Business Solutions includes the businesses of the former
Great Plains (includes eEnterprise, Dynamics and Solomon), Microsoft bCentral,
and Navision (includes Navision Attain and Axapta). MBS’ strategy includes enhancing
and protecting the investment in current business applications, creating new solutions
and building the next generation of business solutions to be developed using .NET.
New solutions include a Retail Management System and Professional Services Automation.
For more from Microsoft, click
here. We have written an article on Microsoft Business Solutions that will
be published in mid October in The Bottom Line. IBM announces strategic
alliances with 2 mid market vendors IBM announced on September 26th
a pair of strategic alliances with mid-market CRM vendor Clear Technologies, and
ERP mid-market specialist MAPICS. This is just the beginning of the consolidation
of companies that will take place over the next year to battle it out with Microsoft
in the mid market. For more from E-Business News, click
here. Business Intelligence products Business Intelligence
(BI) refers to turning data into information that is useful to make decisions.
There is a spectrum of BI solutions. On one end of the spectrum, there are management
or production reports, which can be very simple to generate. If the information
is given on a timely basis and it’s exactly what’s needed, then you have BI. On
the other end of the spectrum are interactive slicing and dicing tools often referred
to as OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing). Click
here for some of the BI products available today. The reincarnation
of dot.com The dot.coms are coming back. One example is WebShots.com,
which was purchased in 1999 for $82.5 Million US and was sold back recently to
the original owners for $2.4 Million US. With a clean balance sheet, control over
spending, improved technology and lessons learned, WebShots is registering 150,000
new users each week. For more from CNN.com, click
here. 2002 best and worst technologies from global research firm Based
on thousands of end-user ROI studies, global research firm, Nucleus Research,
defines the best and worst performing technologies of 2002. The best were E-business
and E-learning. The worst included business-to-business marketplaces and large
customer relationship management implementations. For more, click
here. High speed internet ratings Broadband Reports provides
information on residential and small business Broadband connections including
all types of xDSL information, cable, wireless, end-user reviews and ratings,
and discussions. Click here
for BroadbandReports. A source for market and competitive intelligence
According to an article written by itbusiness.ca, RocketInfo is being
praised by some of the most well-known names in the search business. These include
Research Buzz, About.com and SearchEngineWatch, which last year named the RocketInfo
as the first-runner up to Yahoo! in its annual awards program. Click
here for the itbusiness.ca article or
here for a link to RocketInfo. Definitions of Linux, IP, XML, IP
address, and LAN/WAN A columnist at itbusiness.ca attended the SunNetwork
conference in San Francisco last week and heard the following definitions from
freelance comedian/technologist Don MacMillan: Linux: Latin for "I
don't do Windows." Unix: Male software developers too busy coding
to go on dates. XML: Extra-medium-large, the clothing size between "medium-large"
and "large." IP address: Location of the bathroom. LAN/WAN:
Thank you, ma'am. September 2002 ACCPAC Case
Study published in the September 2002 edition of the Bottom Line The
case study was on AOL Canada, which implemented ACCPAC at the end of 2001 with
the help of EQUATion Technologies, one of ACCPAC's leading business partners.
A relatively small team at EQUATion and at AOL Canada made a big difference at
a global company. For a reprint of the article, click here.
Fourth Annual Survey of Accounting and ERP systems published in the September
edition of CAmagazine This year, we expanded our survey to not only
include financial and distribution systems, but also manufacturing systems. Our
on-line charts of 34 different systems contain information on costs, applications,
target market, install base, technology, unique features, and more than 100 detailed
questions on generic, financial, distribution and manufacturing functionality.
We also issued a satisfaction survey to the actual customers of some of
the leading accounting systems available in Canada and sent a confidential questionnaire
to more than 300 customers, a third of which responded. We asked each customer
to rate the software, the implementer and the developer of the software, and posed
many questions that involved costs and benefits. The article in the CAmagazine
contains the high level results of our customer survey. For the article
published on CAmagazine's web site, click
here. The reseller agreement between Microsoft and Siebel (leading
CRM system) ends this year According to AMR Research "The original
pact between Siebel and Great Plains allowed Great Plains to resell Siebel’s CRM
applications to Small and Midsize Businesses (SMB), and the contract continued
when Microsoft acquired Great Plains. Since that time, however, Microsoft has
decided it will develop and sell its own CRM applications for its partners to
offer the SMB market." The gloves are coming off in this battle over CRM
starting in 2003 between Microsoft and Siebel. For the AMR article, click
here. Wordperfect gets new life from Dell and Hewlett Packard
According to the New York times, "Just as WordPerfect, the once-popular word
processing software, was at risk of slipping from the computer world's consciousness,
it is set to appear on millions of new screens." Click
here for this article. "If the automobile had followed the
same development as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million
miles per gallon, and explode once a year killing everyone inside."
This quote is attributed to Robert X. Cringely, who from 1987-95, wrote the Notes
From the Field column in InfoWorld, a weekly computer trade newspaper. He is also
the author of the best-selling book Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon
Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a
Date. More recently, Cringely is the host and writer of the hit PBS-TV miniseries
"Triumph of the Nerds. Cringely's weekly sermons on technology are available
on-line by clicking here.
ASPs (Application Service Providers) are making a comeback With
ASP's, you don’t buy the software, you rent it; and the program and data are maintained
on the ASP’s equipment. The primary advantage of an ASP is less investment in
computers and the resources to maintain it. There were a number of high profile
ASP casualties last year, and ASPs fell out of favour. But there seems to no denying
the ASP's compelling business case. According to ITConsultant, "Oracle Corporation
is crowing about its e-business suite outsourcing biz — it grew by a whopping
50 percent with the influx of 100 new customers in Q4 2002." For ITConsultant's
article, click
here. Cringely also writes about ASPs in an August 15 article, in
which he talks about StoreReport, an ASP for owners and operators of convenience
stores. Cringely says "I like the ASP concept because it isn't hype and it
can really save both time and money when the circumstances are right. Maybe it
isn't politically correct, but I say do what works." Click
here for Cringely's article on ASPs entitled "High ASPirations".
By the way, StoreReport has not made its way to Canada yet, but it should not
be long before it does. For StoreReport's web site, click here.
A good source of information from the UK Consultants' Advisory is
a report, published by Prime Marketing Publications (PMP), which keeps UK consultants
and systems integrators abreast of the key issues in the IT marketplace. It is
a regular publication available both in online and printed copy form. The on-line
version is available free by clicking here.
In the August issue, there is a lot of information on Professional Services Automation
including the results of a recent survey, which showed that over half of the respondents
plan to adopt PSA in the next 2 years. Asked why they are unhappy with their existing
systems, the overwhelming reason was to improve resource allocation (90%), followed
by milestone delivery on time (84%), creating metrics for future estimating (72%),
re-use knowledge (70%), improving project visibility (68%). Surprisingly saving
money was at the bottom of the list at 66%. Paste into Microsoft Word
without changing the text format If you're like me, you're frequently
copying and pasting into Microsoft Word. Does the text you copy and paste retain
the format from the source document? Click
here for a tip from PC Magazine. August 2002
Want to read our MAS 90 Case Study that was published in the August
edition of The Bottom Line? Click
here to get a reprint of the article. Did you hear that Microsoft
has now purchased Navision? On July 11, Microsoft completed the purchase
of Navision for $1.3 billion (U.S.). There are lots of questions about this deal.
To see the answers by Microsoft to many of the questions, click
here. There are other questions for which you will not find answers, such
as can Microsoft be as successful in accounting/ERP systems as they are in other
markets? Microsoft's strategy is to dominate and mass market their products. Microsoft
must compete with dozens of other accounting/ERP products, each with its own strength
in software functionality. As well, accounting/ERP systems are sold and implemented
in a very different way than typical Microsoft product. It takes months of discussions,
demonstrations and negotiations before an accounting/ERP system is sold. However,
remember that Microsoft has been an ERP provider since April of last year, following
the completion of the Great Plains acquisition. I am told that their strategy
to market Business Solutions products and services is in fact, not the same as
it is for other product lines sold by the company – they are committed to the
partner model as has been historic with both Great Plains and Navision and have
no plans to alter this commitment. Did you hear about our new system
health check service? Often business systems evolve with each person
adding their own procedure. Over time, a business process becomes inefficient
and ineffective, and possibly out of control. Click here
for more on our latest service. Still paranoid about your backup?
Unfortunately many companies still learn the hard way about the importance of
backup. In a recent article in PC World, CD's were rated the best bet for small
systems and external hard drives for larger systems. The article contained some
good advice for "foolproof" backup. Click
here for this article. Would you like a better calculator for your
computer with a tape for review and correction? TapeCalc 2 is
a practical desktop calculator with a "smart" tape that records your
calculations and lets you correct any errors. Its built-in unit-conversion feature
provides automatic conversion between dozens of different units of measurement.
Click
here for a TapeCalc 2 - free from PC Magazine. Would you like another
source for IT strategy and research on emerging technology? The majority
of white papers, profiles, impacts and other documents published by Aberdeen Group
are free at aberdeen.com.
Would you like another source to help you select the right accounting package?
We would prefer that you call us when you think you're ready to select a new system.
We may talk you out of it. If replacement of your current system is necessary,
we can help. If you would rather do it yourself, you can refer to the
buyers guides and case studies
on our web site. Next month, we will publish our 2002 buyers guide of 34 accounting
systems with comparisons on cost, applications, install base, target market, technology,
unique features and over 100 detailed questions on generic, financial, distribution
and manufacturing functionality. Another good source is the Accounting Software
Advisor, which can be accessed by clicking
here. What is Business Intelligence or Online Analytical
Processing? It's about improving information relevance and timeliness
for improved decision making. Rather than read static reports, you can analyze
operations using tools to slice and dice your information across multiple dimensions.
Business Intelligence tools include Crystal Decisions and Cognos PowerPlay. To
learn more about these products and Business Intelligence, click
here for a whitepaper from Crystal and
here for a whitepaper from Cognos. July 2002 Did
you know that you have until July 31, 2002 to sign up for Microsoft's new licensing
program to upgrade Windows, Word, Excel, Outlook…? If you plan to
upgrade soon, you will save a lot by signing up. Rather than simply being able
to upgrade your Microsoft software when you want to, Microsoft would prefer you
to commit to buying upgrades ahead of time through an annual fee. Click
here for Microsoft's web site that describes this in more detail and here
for an article from news.com about it entitled "Microsoft program meets some
resistance" What happened to thin client? A few years
ago, the computing industry buzzed with thin technology as way to lower the costs
of maintaining PC's. You would not need a "fat" and expensive PC. A
low cost computer or terminal would suffice as you would be connected to a powerful
server that would do all the work. At the time, it seemed like a return to the
days of the mainframe and minicomputer and "dumb" terminals. According
to an article published in the May 31, 2002 edition of ComputerWorld Canada, thin
client technology never made a serious dent in mainstream computing. What happened?
Probably the biggest factor is the objection of anyone who has the power of a
PC at their fingertips in not only doing office work, but also using it for enjoyment.
Another factor is the cost to replace what already works. Another problem with
thin technology is over reliance on the network and servers. With a PC, you can
still do some work if the network goes down. There will be situations where thin
is better, but don't expect PC's to go on a diet anytime soon. Click
here for the article from ComputerWorld entitled "Computing on Thin Ice"
What's the business case for Professional Service Automation (PSA)?
By now, you have probably heard about PSA. It is a hot buzzword for automating
business processes for any organization that provides professional services. These
organizations track their time, manage projects and usually bill their clients
for services. They often want to track opportunities, schedule resources, and
provide knowledge of best practice to their employees. PSA should have a compelling
business case. Just by calculating the productivity of employees, there is a tendency
for employees to improve their numbers. A small improvement in productivity could
easily lead to significant improvement to the bottom line. Other savings include
reduction in time to generate invoices, improved cash flow by generating invoices
more quickly, improved scheduling of resources, and better estimating on future
projects. Want to read a good book on PSA? For a good book
on PSA, click here.
Can Linux dethrone Windows? In an article published in the May 2002
edition of Infosystems Executive, Linux is challenging Microsoft as the operating
system of choice for enterprise computing. Operating systems manage software applications,
data and security, as well as control devices. IBM was reported as investing $1
Billion US in the Linux platform in 2001 with the same amount planned for 2002.
Linux in the past was used by universities to run supercomputers, but is now used
by business and government. Linux does have some advantages such as lower costs
and apparently bug-free code. For the article in Infosystems, click
here. June 2002 Want to read
our Epicor Case Study that was published in the June edition of the Bottom
Line entitled “Do it right or don't do it at all”? Click
here to get a reprint of the article. Interested in hearing about
the latest consolidation of accounting/ERP systems? Last year Exact
purchased Macola. Now Exact is offering $19 Million US for Kewill ERP (http://www.kewill.com/),
which includes JobBOSS, MAX and Alliance/MFG. Compare that to Microsoft's intended
purchase of Navision for $1.3 Billion. It remains to be seen whether Exact or
Microsoft can align people, processes and products effectively. Click
here for an article from AMR Research on the Kewill acquisition.
Looking for information about manufacturing systems? One good source
of information is APICS (American Production and Inventory Control Society). The
name does not do justice to all that APICS offers. Check it out by clicking
here. Looking for unbiased evaluations of software or hardware?
There are research companies that charge software and hardware manufacturers to
be evaluated. One good source of information for independent research on
software is SPEX, which does not charge vendors for their evaluations. Although
it is very expensive to purchase the full reports, there is some free research
available on their site. Click here
for a link to SPEX. For hardware evaluations, check out Ideas International by
clicking here.
Need to make room in your warehouse, storage area or home? Want to avoid costly
storage, trucking and landfill dumping costs? Want to donate your old stuff and
get a tax receipt from Stuff Canada? Stuff Canada (Supporting Today’s
Underprivileged For the Future) will put your old shoes, clothes, computers, office
furniture, toiletries, appliances... in the hands of charities who need them.
You make a difference and you could get a tax receipt. Click
here for the web site of Stuff Canada. Do you see the problem or
the opportunity? In the May issue of APICS magazine, I read - Perhaps
you remember the tale of two competing shoe salesmen who were sent to a remote
country. Not long after they arrived, salesman number one e-mailed his supervisor
with a grim report. "We've made a huge mistake," he wrote. "No
one here wears shoes." Salesman number two e-mailed his supervisor
with the same news, but with a dramatically different perspective. "Send
me as many shoes as you can," he wrote. "No one here wears shoes yet."
Do you think outside the box? You are driving along in your
car on a wild, stormy night. You pass by a bus stop, and you see three people
waiting for the bus: 1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2. An old friend who once saved your life. 3. The perfect man (or)
woman you have been dreaming about. Which one would you choose to offer
a ride to, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your car. You
could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save
her first; or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and
this would be the perfect chance to pay him back. However, you may never be able
to find your perfect dream lover again. Click here
for the out of the box solution. May 2002
Want to read our Solomon Case Study in the May edition of the Bottom Line
entitled “Beating Swords into Plowshares”? Click
here to get a reprint of the article. Want to read our TECSYS Case
Study in the mid May edition of the Bottom Line entitled “A Supply Chain Management
System from a Canadian Software Developer”? Click
here to get a reprint of the article. Don’t understand what’s happening
with Microsoft’s intention to purchase Navision? On May 7, 2002, Microsoft
announced its intention to purchase Navision for $1.3 Billion. Last Year around
this time Microsoft purchased Great Plains for only $1.1 Billion, which also included
Solomon as Great Plains had purchased Solomon the year before that. Microsoft's
strategy is to dominate in whatever market it enters. Another strategy has been
to encourage software developers to build their systems with Microsoft tools.
In exchange, Microsoft did not compete with them - until now. The battle for mid
market businesses will make Star Wars seem like a walk in the park. Click
here for one article from TEC on the subject and
here for another from Information Week. Late breaking news - Microsoft
just announced its plans to acquire Sales Management Systems, a leading point-of-sales
(POS) technology company. Click
here for more about this latest acquisition. What's next? Expect more consolidation
as Microsoft competitors launch their counter offensive.
Still not sure which personal anti-virus program to use? There's
no guarantee in life but you can minimize the risks. Click
here for a hot-off-the-press article from PC Magazine showing Norton Antivirus
as editor's choice. Are you just a little worried
that your data is not backed up properly? It seems most people learn
the hard way when it comes to back up. For some, the network is backed up, but
the local files are exposed to the elements. There are many options available
to you. For example, you could keep all your data files together and use a compression
tool to back up to your network or a CD. You might also consider using a tool
such as SmartBackup 1.5 that compares your data files and only backs up those
that have changed. An assortment of back up utilities can be obtained from Tucows
by clicking here.
So you're backing up your network on a regular basis - great. But have
you verified that you can actually restore what you backed up? Do you have a network
company that is entrusted to verify that the restore works properly? What do you
think would happen if they claim to be doing this on a regular basis, but for
some reason, when you need to restore your data, you can't? Your contract with
them probably says that they shall not be responsible for any damages including
loss of data... So have your network company prove that you can actually restore
all your data.
April 2002
Did you read our Business Vision Case Study in the April edition of the Bottom
Line? Click here to get a reprint
of the article. Interested in a roundtable discussion about SunSystems
published in the April edition of InfoSystems Executive? We were asked
to participate in a roundtable discussion on the implementation of SunSystems
at Hilton Hotels. Click
here to link to the article. Having trouble coming up with a Return
on Investment on IT expenditures? You’re not alone. Based on a survey
by CIO Insight, “most of the 404 top IT executives in our survey feel greater
pressure than ever before to demonstrate a return on their IT investments. But
there's no agreed-upon approach to calculating ROI. Worse, 70 percent believe
their metrics don't fully capture the value of IT, and nearly half lack confidence
in their ability to accurately calculate ROI.” Click
here for the article. Don't know much or anything
about the Tablet PC which will likely become the most popular form of PC sold
in North America? Click
here for a hot-off-the-press article from PC Magazine.
Need a reference for buzzwords? A helpful and somewhat humorous
site is available to demystify buzzwords. Click
here for this web site.
Could use some help in obtaining benchmarks?
Benchmarking is a great idea. Why not compare your business or your client’s business
to what other similar companies are doing? But getting the data is not easy.
Here are some on-line resources that may be helpful. Click on
Government of Canada or
Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (only for CICA members) or
Benchmarking Exchange or
Benchmarking Network or
Best Practices, LLC or American
Productivity & Quality Center or just call us. Can’t get enough
information about Customer Relationship Management (CRM)? The Patricia
Seybold Group has recently released a free, 43 page executive guide to CRM. For
all you ever wanted to know about CRM, click
here.
March 2002 Did you read our Navision Case Study in the
March edition of the Bottom Line? Click
here to get a reprint of the article. Want
to know more about Microsoft’s CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System?
There will be lots of buzz about this over the next few months. To obtain more
information about Microsoft CRM, click
here. This link is to AMR Research, which is one of the better sources of
technology information. Want to know what Bill Gates said this week
at the Microsoft Great Plains conference in Orlando? I wasn’t in Orlando
but did hear him speak via satellite at Microsoft’s Toronto office. He spoke about
betting the company on his .NET strategy, which was mentioned in our Feb FYI,
which can be obtained on our web site by paging down a few times - look for "So
what’s this .NET thing?". Bill also talked about the tablet PC as
the next great technology advance. It is the shape of a pad of paper and has all
the power of a laptop. A prototype was shown, and wouldn’t you know it – it crashed.
Nevertheless, it looked amazing, and one day soon, I can see them as standard
equipment for business, heath care, students…For more information about tablet
PC’s, click
here. Bill also hyped Microsoft’s new CRM product, which will be tightly integrated
with Outlook, other Microsoft Office products and Microsoft Great Plains and Solomon.
The new CRM product is still in development, and won’t be available until the
end of 2002. Click
here for more about Microsoft CRM. Don’t want
to use your old PC as a boat anchor? There are alternatives. PC Magazine
just released this article that will give you some ideas. Click
here for more. No idea how to stop certain
programs from loading automatically? There are utilities that will
identify which programs are being loaded automatically and will allow you to easily
disable these programs. StartUp Manager is one tool that can be found on a web
site that contains “Downright Useful Downloads”. Click
here for this web site.
Do you need a firewall at home, or
do you want to know more about firewalls? You probably have protection
at the office, but what about at home? With DSL and Cable Modem technology, your
PC is permanently connected to the Internet and can be more easily attacked by
hackers. HowStuffWorks is one source of firewall information that can be linked
by clicking
here and PC Magazine recently published a good article that can be obtained
by clicking
here. Should we publish the results of our
survey to customers of the leading accounting systems? We have issued
a survey to about 400 customers of some of the leading vendors of accounting systems.
The results were going to be published in the CAmagazine in February and then
in May, but we have now delayed until September 2002 because of concerns raised
by the vendors. The results are based on about 10-15 customers per product, and
there is the concern about drawing conclusions from a small sample size. The other
concern is that we are rating and comparing products that could vary significantly
in complexity, and the concern is that we are not comparing apples to apples.
Another problem is that many of the vendors did not realize what their customers
were thinking, and were surprised by the results. We think that not knowing what
customers are really thinking is a common problem. In past FYI’s, we have suggested
using a product from Perseus Development Corporation (http://www.perseus.com/)
to gather client information. If you would like assistance in gathering market
intelligence, we can help by introducing you to one of our marketing consultant
associates. Have you heard of Toronto Taste? Every
June, dozens of the top chefs in Toronto work together with the best wineries
of the province to present a fabulous feast called Toronto Taste. The event, now
in its 12th year, is a fundraiser for Second Harvest. For tickets and sponsorship
information, please call: 416-408-2594. Click
here for more about Toronto Taste (hopefully their web site is ready). Second
Harvest is Toronto's largest perishable food recovery program, collecting and
distributing surplus fresh and prepared food to 121 social service agencies throughout
the G.T.A. February 2002 Did you hear that Microsoft
is about to release its own CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System?
In many organizations, customer data is often inside someone’s head or scattered
across marketing, sales, service and accounting. CRM brings it all together and
allows organizations to pro-actively respond to opportunities and manage existing
relationships. So far, CRM has been pitched mostly to the larger organizations
and has been very expensive to implement. There are CRM solutions for small and
medium-sized business, but there is no market leader and confusion about the differences
between products. With a huge potential CRM market for small and medium-sized
business, the time is ripe for Microsoft to march into CRM. Click
here to read more. Are you ready to send a
survey to your clients by email? It seems to me that many companies
don’t always know what their clients are thinking. There are tools that will automate
the preparation of a survey, as well as data collection and reporting. We have
used the Survey Solutions product from Perseus Development Corporation (http://www.perseus.com/)
and would highly recommend it. We would also be pleased to help you get started.
Just want to print a few business cards?
There are inexpensive programs that make it easy to print a few business cards
at a time. It’s unlikely that the home grown cards will be as good as you would
get from your printer, but you may find that it’s all you need. RKS Software has
developed a program called Visual Business Cards. Click
here for a link to RKS Software.
So what’s this .NET thing?
Microsoft’s .NET strategy is supposed to allow applications to communicate and
share data over the Internet or an intranet, regardless of operating system or
programming language. For a non-technical article on .NET from Microsoft’s TechNet,
click
here. What are the top 10 predictions for 2002?
Gartner recently published their top 10. Gartner is one of the leading sources
of business and technology research. For their Top 10 and a sense of what they
offer, click
here. Have you heard of Lunch Money Day?
On Thursday, February 28, 2002, Second Harvest is asking Torontonians to brown
bag their lunch, and instead, to donate their lunch money to Second Harvest. Second
Harvest is Toronto's largest perishable food recovery program, collecting and
distributing surplus fresh and prepared food to 121 social service agencies throughout
the G.T.A. For more information on Lunch Money Day, click
here. January 2002 Where has all the disk space
gone? (Long time passing…) It would be useful if Windows explorer
would show where all the space has gone. There are utilities that will show you
graphically which directories and what files are the space hogs. One utility can
be found by clicking
here.
Have you been attacked by a computer virus yet?
Some say that 2001 was the Year of the Virus. Unfortunately Microsoft Outlook
is the target of choice and seems to be easy prey to malicious and creative hackers
despite the fact that Microsoft has introduced draconian measures to block out
potential threats. You may notice that a wide variety of files are blocked that
you may want to receive from trusted sources. It is easy to bypass Outlook’s protection
by changing the file extension or by WinZiping it. Although there are no guarantees
for protection, follow a few guidelines and reduce the risks. Click
here for Microsoft’s guidelines. Who buys on-line? You
would think that it would be the younger crowd. Guess again. I have attached an
article that was downloaded from TechRepublic, which is a decent source of IT
information. Click
here for a link to TechRepublic and click
here for an article on who buys on-line. Have
you attended a webinar? A webinar is a great technology that allows
you to be trained or attend a conference at your office. Using the internet and
your phone, you will see the PowerPoint presentation or the latest version of
a software product, and you will hear the speaker on your phone. You can even
ask questions via the internet. I have used PlaceWare a few times and it sure
beats getting on an airplane… Click
here for a link to Placeware’s web site. December 2001 Are
your clients satisfied with your services? Today, more than ever, achieving
high client satisfaction is a critical strategic success factor. On the other
hand, client confidence and loyalty are hard-to-measure intangibles. That's why
client satisfaction surveys can be key tools in your efforts to improve your business
and develop new services that meet current and emerging needs. Online surveys
offer many advantages over traditional mail and telephone surveys including quicker
results, lower costs and higher response rates. With point-and-click ease, online
client surveys give clients the ability to express themselves quickly, conveniently
and in detail. For example, we recently created a comprehensive online
accounting system survey for CAmagazine. Emailed to 300 customers, this easy-to-understand
and complete survey was returned to us with a simple click of the "submit
survey" button. Our database was automatically updated with the results,
populating easy-to-understand reports, tables and graphs to support the magazine
article. Purchasing a new computer with Windows XP? Computers
are now being sold pre-loaded with Microsoft’s latest operating system – Windows
XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional. If the computer contains Windows XP
Home Edition and your office network is NT or Windows 2000, you will not be able
to connect to your office network. You will need to upgrade your new computer
to Windows XP Professional. There are other differences between the home and professional
edition. Microsoft has a chart that may help explain the differences. Click
here for their chart. Are you making the most of your existing system?
You're not alone. Often, Excel is used to compensate for missing
reports or functionality. Management knows that these manual processes are labour
intensive and error-prone but don't have the time or expertise to do anything
about it. It would likely be a shock if the costs of these manual systems were
identified. The costs include not just the time costs but also the costs if there
are errors in decision-making or lost opportunities because of delays in getting
the information. At the very least, you should not have to re-key information. Today's
systems are usually open databases that can be accessed by a wide variety of tools.
There should be no reason why the data from your existing system could not be
automatically imported into Excel or Access. For example, Excel allows you to
directly connect to many databases including Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access,
dBASE, Microsoft FoxPro, Oracle and Paradox. Using ODBC (Open Database Connectivity),
a widely accepted application programming interface (API), you should be able
to access your data from most other databases without re-keying. Our recommendation
is not to wait for a new system. Make the most of what you have. Ever
wonder why your company never appears in the search results for search engines
such as Yahoo or Google? If you would like to attract
new business to your web site, you can't just wait for the search engines to take
notice of you. For directories such as Yahoo, you need to get listed either
by paying them a fee or, if the Yahoo category you choose is deemed non-commercial,
you can be listed for free. On Yahoo's home page, click on a Category such as
Business and Economy. Keep clicking on more specific items and then look for "suggest
a site" at the bottom of the screen. You will only see the "Standard"
free listing if you have picked what Yahoo considers a non-commercial category.
Otherwise you will see the "Yahoo! Express" listing which will give
you a "Guaranteed and expedited consideration of your site within 7 business
days" for a one-time non-refundable fee of US $299. With so-called
web crawlers, these search engines automatically visit web pages to compile their
listings. The most important crawler-based search engine is Google, which will
include your site based on the quantity and quality of other web sites that point
to you. So get your trading partners to link to you on their web site. If you're
trading partners are considered important sites by Google and they link to you,
then you should soon have more visitors knocking on your internet door. As well,
Google will look to the directories such as Yahoo to determine whether your site
is worthy. Do you argue with your kids about how long they are playing
games on the computer? One way to reduce the arguments with the kids
is to use a program that logs the program along with the time and duration of
use. For example, a program called Appstraka can be used at home to monitor computer
usage. For those children that resent being spied upon, you could explain to them
that the security program will help them when their parents unjustly say that
that they have used up their time for the day. You can download a free trial for
30 days and purchase the product for US $30. Click here
to go to Appstraka’s web site. Have you ever had a problem loading Windows
because of a missing or damaged file? You probably have someone
at the office who will help you with missing or damaged files. If you're on your
own at home, it's not easy even with top-of-the-line equipment. What do you do
when you can't load Windows 2000 because of a missing or damaged file? Imagine
your surprise when the top-of-the-line computer manufacturer says that you need
to reformat the hard drive and reload all your programs to fix the problem.. You
probably purchased Windows 2000, but did you get a Windows 2000 CD that would
allow you to restore Windows unless you start all over again? With a Windows
2000 CD, you have a number of options to fix the problem. One solution is to use
The Emergency Repair Disk (ERD), which can help you to repair or recover a system
that can't load Windows 2000. The ERD helps you repair problems with system files
and the partition boot sector. This situation occurs when your hard disk fails
or when some of your system files are corrupted or accidentally deleted. System
files are the files Windows 2000 uses to load, configure, and run the operating
system. In order to use ERD, you must first create an ERD on a diskette by running
the back-up program found under Programs/Accessories/System Tools. So
when purchasing a new computer, make sure that you obtain a full working Windows
CD. Also make sure you have a diskette drive for creating the ERD. | 
